Well, thank you, Mark and Diane, for leading us again this morning. Good morning to everyone. Had a little break from the heat this morning. We were baling hay the last few days and butchering beef. It's been busy. We worked Mitch out on Friday. He came up, and I was afraid maybe we'd kill him, but he seems to have done really well. He texted me at 5:13 the next morning and said, if you need help today, let me know. And I thought, oh, I can barely get out of bed. 

So, well, we're working through the book of Galatians, and we come back to our study of this book this morning, working verse by verse through this very important letter, a letter with a clear message about the very nature of the gospel itself. You'll remember that Paul had come to this region preaching the gospel, founding churches, strengthening the brethren with truth, with doctrine from God. And the churches were doing well. They were thriving there. 

Paul had returned to continue to teach them, disciple them, strengthen the brethren, which was his custom. But after he left, a group of legalistic Jews had come from Jerusalem and traced Paul's steps, going to these churches and teaching a false gospel, a message of salvation by faith, plus ritual, plus the works of the law. We've discussed through our studies that this same false message troubles the church today. 

We have those who claim the name of Christ, who profess faith in him, but then require rituals and works for salvation. And this is a false message, the most serious of heresies. And Paul addresses this in the beginning of this epistle at chapter 1 at verse 6. He says, I marvel, I'm stunned that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, a heteros, a different, not the same, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we've said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

Paul's upset. He's very concerned about what's going on in Galatia, about the influence of this false teaching. And the concern is really twofold. One, if the true gospel is lost, if we pervert the gospel of grace by faith for salvation, then no one can be saved. We have no clear message for the lost. But also, this false teaching was confusing the brothers concerning how it is that we live the Christian life, concerning sanctification as well, as we see in the example of Peter in chapter 2. 

If the believers were to keep the law of Moses as the rule of their life, if rites and rituals and law keeping are the way to holiness, then this turns sanctification on its head as well as justification. As we've seen, Paul speaks strongly to this in our most recent studies, Galatians 2:18. He said, for if I build again the law, those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I, through the law, died to the law in order that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. 

In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. 

Well, these are some of the most important words in the Bible for our understanding of how we are to live the Christian life. Justification, coming to Christ, coming to salvation, being made right with God. Justification is by grace through faith. But sanctification, how we live the Christian life, is by grace through faith as well. Paul says emphatically in the context of Peter and Barnabas and the other Jews having confused the Christian life by bringing law back into it, he says, I have been crucified with Christ. 

It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Watch this now. The life which I now live, that's talking about the Christian life. That's talking about sanctification. I live by faith, by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. You see, the Judaizers had bewitched the Christians in Galatia with a false message, wrong teaching. Galatians 3:1, oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? 

He says, this only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? The word bewitched here has its roots in the concept of the evil eye. It's a captivating effect. The believers had been captivated, put under a spell, as it were, by this false teaching. 

You know, it seems so clear on its face. The gospel is so very clear in the scriptures. There's no confusion. Paul had been abundantly clear with the gospel and grounding the believers in the gospel as their way of life. And yet the believers in Galatia were taken captive. They were bewitched by this patently false message of faith plus works. 

Again, it seems to be no different today. As we study this letter, it's clear that Paul is exercised. He's upset. And he's upset because he knows that this will destroy the church. It will destroy the fruitfulness of the believers. And it will keep the lost from salvation if the message of the gospel is confused. Yet today in our world, you are very much in the minority and largely unpopular in the Christian church if you take the stance, the position, that Paul and Jesus took. 

It seems that the church today is bewitched. Believers are confused about the exact same false message that the Judaizers were plaguing the Galatians with. Who is willing to stand in the pulpit today and condemn the false message of baptismal regeneration, of sacramental salvation, of churches who claim the name of Christ and yet add ritual and works and law keeping to the grace of God through faith in Jesus alone for salvation? Very few. 

And at your Bible studies or fellowships in much of the evangelical church today, it's clear that Christians are unclear about these things in our time. And that's why this letter is so important, why it's vital to the church today, to the cause of Christ, to the glory of God. Paul's not afraid to withstand Peter to his face, to call out the Judaizers and their false message and the influence it was having on the church, and to chasten the brethren for their lack of discernment and unwillingness to stand for the truth. 

We should be eager to receive this admonition today, to act on it, to live in light of it for the sake of the gospel. In our text today, Paul begins to formulate his arguments against the legalistic gospel by going back to the Old Testament scriptures, even to Abraham, to show that justification has always been by grace through faith alone. 

Let's look at our text in Galatians 3:5. Therefore, he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, in you all the nations shall be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. 

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law on the side of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. 

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

Good news, my friends. I've given you five points on your outline this morning. First, Father Abraham. Second, the question of Israel. Third, the curse of the law. Fourth, the promise of righteousness by faith. And fifth, the just shall live by faith. 

Well, first we see in our text, Father Abraham, as Paul introduces the patriarch as exhibit one for the defense of the gospel. The other day I had a man come to the farm to get some meat, and he and I began a conversation about the gospel. He was raised in a Baptist church, like a general association of regular Baptists. He fell away from that, and he ran with the hippies for a time, he told me. And now he and his wife and their young children have found faith and meaning in the Orthodox Church. 

And the Orthodox Church, for those of you who don't know, is much like the Roman Catholic Church without the pope. What was interesting when we talked was that he kept going back to this statement. He said, the Orthodox Church is the original church that goes all the way back to the apostles. Then he said, the Roman Catholic Church is just a later spinoff. 

I thought, well, that's really interesting, because I'm quite certain the Roman Catholic Church sees that a little differently. This was sort of the situation with the Jews and Abraham. They would claim, we are the sons of Abraham. We go all the way back to the beginning, to the promises and the covenant of God, found in Genesis 12, when he promised that Abraham would be the father of the nation of Israel. 

And the rabbis taught that Father Abraham would stand at the gates of hell and let no Jew in. They taught that they were righteous simply because they were physical descendants of Abraham. And interestingly, they also taught that Abraham was saved because he was circumcised and kept the law. We see this perverted teaching concerning Abraham and personal justification of the Jews illustrated quite often in the New Testament exchanges with the Pharisees and Sadducees. 

Let's look at Matthew 3. This is John the Baptist having an exchange with the religious leaders of Israel. Matthew 3:1, it says, in those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Now, John himself was clothed in camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 

Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 

And even now, the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water under repentance. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. 

The common teaching of Jesus' time by the Jewish leaders was that being a physical descendant of Abraham was enough to secure your place in the covenant and guarantee personal salvation. What John is saying to the Pharisees is, don't say, we're good because Abraham is our father, because Jesus is coming, the ax is laid to the root, and there's going to be judgment. There'll be judgment for those who do not believe as Abraham believed. 

We see this illustrated in Romans 2, where Paul deconstructs the confidence of the religious Jews who were depending on their heritage, on the law, and on circumcision to get them to heaven. Jesus had an interesting exchange as well with the Pharisees in John 8. Let's turn to John 8, verse 33. I just want to establish kind of the context and background to which Paul's writing in our text. 

In John 8:33, it says, they answered him, we are Abraham's descendants and have never been in bondage to anyone. What a statement that is for the leaders of Israel to say. We have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say you will be made free? Jesus answered them, most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 

Therefore, if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have seen with your father. They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. 

But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father. Then they said to him, we were not born of fornication, we have one Father God. Jesus said to them, if God were your Father you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God, nor have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. 

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 

He who is of God hears God's words; therefore, you do not hear because you are not of God. And this is followed by Jesus' I am statement. He says, before Abraham was, I am, and they picked up stones to stone him. So this was the mindset of the Judaizers, of the legalistic religious Jews of Jesus' time, of Paul's time, and this sets up the context for our lesson today because Paul's going to use Abraham and their scriptural record in Genesis 15 and Genesis 17 to totally destroy this false message that they're preaching. 

Again in our text, verse 5, therefore he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. Paul will further develop his argument as we move through this chapter, but the point here, the topic he's discussing, and this is important to note, is personal justification by faith. This is the primary issue he's concerned with, and he introduces their claimed father Abraham as his illustration and argument against their false message. 

The essence of the debate is between salvation by grace through faith alone versus salvation by grace through faith plus religious ritual and law-keeping. And these are two mutually exclusive Gospels. This is what's so hard for us to apply in our lives and communities and families. Paul makes this clear in Romans 11:6, he says, if it's by grace, it's no longer by works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it's of works, it's no longer grace, otherwise work is no longer work. 

You see, Satan and his ministers attempt to confuse us on this issue. For example, Roman Catholic doctrine says that a man is saved by grace alone. That's the official teaching of the Roman Church. However, that grace is dispensed piecemeal through the sacraments of the church, through participation in religious rites and rituals, through acts of penance and suffering and doing good works and all kinds of things added to faith. You see, they teach that a man is saved by the grace of God, but he receives that grace through works. 

And Paul says, no, it can't be that way. It's either by grace or it's by works. If it is of works, it's no longer grace. It must be by faith alone and Jesus alone that we are justified, and Abraham shows us that this has always been the way of God. You can't say that justification is by God's grace alone and then require works to obtain it. Works justification destroys grace. 

So the Judaizers claim Abraham as their father and claim that he was saved by circumcision and law-keeping, but Paul's going to destroy this message, this false gospel, with two inconvenient truths. In Genesis 15, we read that the faith of Abraham, and in verse 6 it says, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him, imputed to him for righteousness. Thus we see that the basis for righteousness imputed to Abraham was faith, faith in the revelation of God. 

We don't have time to go back through all those scriptures in Genesis 15 and 17, but I think Paul summarizes them well in Romans 4 as well as in Galatians 3. Let's look at Romans 4 at verse 1. Now this is immediately following his explanation in 3:19 to 26 of justification by faith in Jesus, and then in 4:1 he says, what then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 

Now listen to this, it says, to him who works the wages are not counted as grace but as debt, but to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Praise the Lord. It's all about you, but I'm one of the ungodly. His faith is accounted, imputed to him, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. What a clear statement. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. 

So what happens at the cross when we believe Jesus is that our sin is imputed to him, not to us. It's not credited to our account, it's credited to him, and he receives the wrath of God for our sins in our place, and his righteousness is given to us as a gift. 

Now look at verse 9 of Romans 4, does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised but while uncircumcised. He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. 

You see, there's only one way to be justified, and that is to have the very righteousness of God imputed to your account, and God's means for this to happen for you personally, for any man, has always been the same, faith alone. And what we see in the case of Abraham is that he was not yet circumcised when he believed and was saved. In fact, we learn in Genesis 17 it was 14 years later when he received the seal of the sign of the covenant with God, circumcision, and this had nothing to do with his justification, just as water baptism has nothing to do with justification today. 

So the Judaizers are saying he was saved because of his circumcision. Paul says, what does the Scripture say? Genesis 15:6, he was credited God's righteousness through faith. He wasn't circumcised and he was saved; had nothing to do with it. So we see that Abraham's circumcision did not play a part in his salvation. In Galatians 3, we see Paul destroy the argument that the law was part of Abraham's justification or necessary for any man's personal salvation. 

Let's read a passage in Galatians 3 and follow Paul's argument against the Judaizers, verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say, and to seeds as of many, but as of one and to your seed who is Christ. So the promise would come through Christ, Abraham's seed. Verse 17, look at this, and this I say, that the law which was four hundred and thirty years later cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. 

What purpose then does the law serve? Here's a good question for you today, in justification and in sanctification. What purpose does the law serve? Why did the law come? He tells us that it was 430 years later that the law came. All that time there was no law for Abraham to keep. So what purpose, why did the law come? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. 

Now mediator does not mediate for the one only, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. Listen to Paul's logic here. If there had been a law given, which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor, our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 

For you're all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ Jesus have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free, there's neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. 

Personal justification is by grace through faith alone in Jesus alone and what he accomplished in his one-time death on the cross in our place for our sins. There's nothing added to faith for justification, and if anyone adds anything to faith in Jesus alone, then this is a false gospel. Paul meticulously shows the ludicrous nature of the message of the Judaizers from the Old Testament scriptures in the example of Abraham. 

He was justified before he was circumcised and the law didn't even exist until 430 years later. Now I just want to address one thing briefly before we move on in our text. I've been getting a lot of questions from people lately about the nation of Israel with all that's going on in the world. Christians wonder about the nation of Israel and God's promises to her. Let me say first of all, to be clear, this text before us, Paul's whole discussion in Galatians 3, is a polemic against the false gospel of the Judaizers and the grounds of personal justification, which is and has always been by faith in the revealed Word of God. 

This chapter has absolutely nothing to do with the future of national Israel or the promise of a land, a kingdom, of the Messiah sitting on David's throne in Jerusalem, the end times, any of that. It highlights the promise of a blessing to all nations through Christ because the promise has begun to be fulfilled in the church age, and Paul's whole point here is that justification is by promise, the promise made to Abraham that salvation would come to all nations through his seed, not by law or through works. 

So this is a discussion about the gospel and how a man can be justified before God, and that truth has been the same from Adam on. For each and every man, justification is by grace through faith. The scriptures do, however, address the nation and God's plans for her and the prophets, we've looked at that so much in a myriad of places in the Old and New Testaments, and Paul addresses this concern specifically in Romans 9 to 11, where he emphatically denies that God is done with Israel or that Israel has fallen to a place where she can't get back up. 

Israel is apostate, Israel is in rebellion, but that doesn't deny the unconditional promises of God. God will keep His promises, and Paul assures us that when Jesus comes, there will be salvation for Israel and the fulfillment and the fullness of God's plans and purposes for His glory. When the Deliverer comes out of Zion and they look on the one whom they pierced, it says all Israel will be saved. 

God will keep all of His promises to Israel, and to you, and to me, in Christ. We can talk about that at greater depth at a convenient time, but it's important to understand that the nation of Israel is and has been for millennia in a state of apostasy, in a state of rebellion against God, under bondage, even though they said we've never been under bondage. 

They've been under bondage all the way back to Assyria and the Chaldeans and all the way through in Rome, and they're still in the times of the Gentiles, where the Gentiles hold them in bondage. And all the Jews of the Old Testament and all the Jews of our time who have not placed their personal faith in the revelation of God, in the substitute, the sacrifice that God would and now has provided, have perished and are in hell. Just like every Gentile who has not placed his faith in Jesus, when they die, goes to hell. 

That's the very point Paul is making in our text. It matters not if you are Abraham, or if you were a Jew in Jesus' day, or if you're a Gentile from Winchester, Wisconsin. The only way to personal salvation is by God's grace through faith in Jesus alone. And if you don't believe Jesus, if you don't trust Him alone in what He did in your place on the cross, then you will perish in your sins, whether you're a Jew or a Gentile. 

Being a Jew does not get you to heaven any more than being a Lutheran or a Seventh-day Adventist or a Baptist. Personal faith in Jesus is the means for justification, the imputation of God's righteousness for anyone who will believe. And we learn that it's not apart from faith that God will establish his kingdom on earth where Jesus will rule and reign for a thousand years and the nation of Israel will receive the fullness of the promises. 

Why? For the glory of God, for his great namesake. I will, I will, I will. It's not like the law covenant where he said, if you, then I. He said, I will. It's an unconditional promise. Why will he keep his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? For his great namesake. That's why. 

Verse 9 of our text says, those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. Blessed how? Blessed in justification, blessed in personal salvation, just as Abraham was when he believed God. That's the context here, that's the example of Abraham in our text, not blessed in prosperity and land and kingdom and all those things we read about that will come in a specific way for Israel in the future, and that only they believe Jesus. This is talking about personal salvation in Galatians 3. 

Now let's look at verse 10 of our text. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law on the side of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. 

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

Again, Paul quotes the Jewish scriptures to prove his point concerning law keeping and circumcision for salvation. What does God say? Everyone who seeks righteousness through the law is under a curse. Why? Because the law requires perfect obedience. It was not given for us to keep it in order to earn our own righteousness, because we cannot keep it. It was given to show us our sin and lead us to faith in Christ, as we read earlier down in Galatians 3. 

We cannot keep it. The man who does them shall live by them. This is the same statement that Jesus made at the end of the Sermon on the Mount when he said, those who hear these sayings of mine and them. Let me ask you, who does them? Who keeps the law? No one. Jesus said in that sermon that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven you must be perfect as God is perfect. The law is a curse because we cannot keep it. 

Just like Mark read in Romans 9 this morning, they did not find righteousness. Why did they not find righteousness? Because they sought it by the works of the law. Paul says if there could have been a law given which could have brought life, then certainly righteousness would have been through the law, but all have sinned. All have broken the law, and therefore our only hope is grace, that we might receive the promise of God's righteousness through faith. 

That's the blessing of Abraham. He received God's righteousness through faith, and everyone who believes is a son of Abraham because they believe like Abraham. That's what Jesus said to the Pharisees. If you were sons of Abraham, you'd do what Abraham did. What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did. There's your good news friends. God did. He sent Jesus to die in our place and take the penalty that we deserve for breaking God's law, and by faith in him we can be made righteous and fit for heaven. 

Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. The argument is flawless, and from their own scriptures, it's always been God's intention for man to come to him by grace through faith. The way to life, justification, is by God's grace through faith. In the substitutionary sacrifice God provided, and my friends, the way of life for the believer is the same. 

We live by faith. Paul says, the just shall live by faith. He says, the life that I now live, I live by faith. If righteousness, holy living, comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. 

When a man believes Jesus, he becomes like Abraham, a son of Abraham, for how was he justified? He was justified by faith in the promise of God. What about you? Will you seek your own righteousness and fall under the curse of the law, or will you reject self-righteousness, religion, rites, rituals, and law-keeping for salvation and turn to faith in Jesus alone? 

And will you make that message clear to your family members? Will you make that message clear to your co-workers, to everyone God brings across your path? Are you willing in the church to withstand Peter to his face for the sake of the gospel? Having been justified by faith, how will you now live? By the law or by the grace of God, the person of Jesus Christ living in you as you walk by faith? 

Paul answers all these questions very clearly here in this wonderful epistle to the Galatians, and my prayer for us is that we would take them for ourselves, that our life would be seeking to know Jesus through his word, to be thankful. How are you going to be thankful when you receive God's grace? Be thankful, and that we would be rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God, that our life would be about the glory of God, that God would receive glory in the church, as Paul says in Ephesians 3:21. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful, so thankful for your grace, for Jesus, for the plan of salvation that you designed that sits in such stark contrast to all the plans the religions that men have created. There's one clear dividing line, one is works, self-righteousness, law-keeping, religious ritual. Paul says, I've cast all that away as dung, that I might gain Christ and know him and the power of his resurrection, to receive his righteousness by faith. 

Father, what can we say but thank you? What can our life be but thank you, and praises and glory to you, because of this great thing you've done for us? And not only that, but you have also dealt with the sin that lives in us. You've empowered us by your Holy Spirit, the very life of Jesus in us, and you've given us a great privilege and purpose to be your ambassadors and witnesses in this world. You've given to us the words of reconciliation. 

Help us not to be bewitched or confused, but to hold and protect those words, those truths, that we might take them to the world, that we might preach that gospel to ourselves every day and renew our minds to it, so that we might be thankful and we might be fruitful and all for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.